the duchess will see you now

First Day!!!

I don’t know if you know what time it is, but damn, I’m tired. Only it’s the start of Day Two on the road and I wanted to get this up so that you all can see what we’ve been up to. So, without further ado…..

This is a trip that I’ve been thinking about taking for about seven years now. I’ve driven cross-country before, but only with a destination in mind, not as a vacation in itself. Over the last 6 weeks or so I’d been hearing myself tell my friends again and again about the route I’d be taking and the things I’d be stopping to see. But every time I had that conversation with someone I felt doubt and a tinge of fear. I wasn’t sure at all that I was really going to do this. I easily saw myself coming up with an excuse to just stay home for a month of vacation. Another Ferragosto. I’d just have to deal with a bit of shame and embarassment. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before! But enough of that nonsense, because like Jack Kerouac I am ON THE ROAD!!!!!!

My travel buddies: (see that picture up there? It’s up there because I’m still retarded trying to post pics on this thing). That’s me Ma ‘n me boy. (I’m a brave soul, aren’t I?) Anyway, her name is Mary, a.k.a. Mummy, Ma, or Grand Mere (that thar is French for granny). Her real name shall remain withheld. Her real name is soooo beautiful that when she was introduced to pregnant women or their husbands they would cry tears of joy at the discovery of such a name that would be just perfect for their new baby girl. Women started going and getting themselves knocked up so they could name their baby this name. So in an effort to maintain the name’s originality, she started calling herself “Mary”. Now people don’t even remember her name.

We departed Pittsburgh at 8:07 am on Friday, August 3, 2007. My car (Manuela), had 69,083 miles on it in the driveway.

9:07 am : West Virginia / 49.06 miles

9:18 am : Ohio / 62.08 miles

At the Ohio State Visitors Center, we stopped to use the restrooms and I smoked two cigarettes (because Mummy said to me nicely in the morning that if I needed a cigarette, could I please just pull the car over to smoke? Which is WAY better than anything she has EVER said to me before about smoking!!!!). Mummy likes to walk around in the grass and look for things. She found a quarter of a dollar and a quarter of a buckeye. We kept both. Alison and Rocky both called me while I sat there. What great timing.